Keith Hennessey

Debating the President’s Portsmouth pitch (part 7)

Here’s still more from the President in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire town hall on health care reform:

THE PRESIDENT: We have the AARP on board because they know this is a good deal for our seniors.

Definitions of fiscal deadlines and consequences

There are some technical terms being thrown around indiscriminately in the press. This is a quick clarification so you know how to distinguish among them.

The President’s silly health care announcement

The President spoke about health care in the cross-hall today, flanked by the heads of several major health lobbying groups (“trade associations,” in Washington vernacular):

• hospitals — the American Hospital Association…

Understanding the Baucus health bill

Today is the third day of the Senate Finance Committee’s markup of the Baucus health bill, the “America’s Healthy Future Act of 2009.” I am going to summarize the bill in a manner similar to what I might have done for my colleagues while working in the White House.

Deficits and debt under the President’s budget

There has been a lot of debate about whether the President’s budget improves or worsens the future deficit picture. This is a debate mostly about baselines — what do you assume would happen otherwise? Rather than engaging in that debate here, I am…

Debating the President’s Portsmouth pitch (part 17)

We’re in the home stretch.

THE PRESIDENT: I mean, if you think about — if you think about it, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine, right? No, they are. It’s the Post Office that’s always having problems.